Hiromi Takasaki has loved dolphins for as long as she can remember.
While in high school, she learned about the aquatic mammal through a program at the Dolphin Research Center in Florida, and since then she has enjoyed dolphin watching in various places at home ...

Kumamon, the popular black bear mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture, will debut as a YouTuber next month, sharing online its experiences with sports, arts and crafts in multiple languages, the local government said Wednesday.
Starting Sept. 3, a two-minute video featuring the official mascot of the ...

A little more than a year after earthquakes rocked Kumamoto, Tomoyuki Sugano had local fans rocking as he pitched the Yomiuri Giants to a 3-0 Central League win over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows on Tuesday.
Submarine right-hander Hirofumi Yamanaka (0-1), a native of Kumamoto Prefecture, ...

The Meteorological Agency has lowered its alert level for Mount Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture, citing diminished volcanic activity following its explosive eruption in October.
With no major eruptions observed since then, the Meteorological Agency on Tuesday lowered the alert level for the 1,592-meter peak from ...

The Japan Football Association on Thursday donated over ¥30 million ($295,000) to Kumamoto Prefecture after it has been struck by two massive earthquakes in April, leaving about 50 dead.
Money from the JFA has been presented, along with donations from the Japan national team players ...

Despite my short stature, I have to bend nearly in half to enter the underground chamber of reconstructed fifth-century tomb in the Kumamoto Prefecture Decorative Tumulus Museum. The entire tomb is modeled after an actual mound in the nearby city of Yamaga, and inside ...

It was heartening to see newspapers focusing on the difficulties disabled people face when disaster strikes, but far less heartening to hear what they had to say about the facts on the ground in Kumamoto.

The truth is, as many volunteers are needed as can help the many homeowners who want possessions recovered from destroyed homes, or who need trash and heavy broken appliances pulled out of their otherwise intact dwellings.

In the early 1970s, when the country was gripped by student unrest, it was the sight of a sit-in by Minamata disease sufferers outside the headquarters of Chisso Corp. in central Tokyo that gave high schooler Yuta Jitsukawa his cause.
The chemicals company had dumped ...